Calumet moves to FEED stage on modular GTL proposal in Pennsylvania

Calumet now plans to progress with the more detailed engineering and market analysis for the plant. At the conclusion of this study, which is expected to last six months, Calumet says it will decide whether to proceed with fabrication. Production is expected to begin in the second half of 2014.

Ventech has now completed the plant design and provided a fixed
price quote for the modules. Calumet has confirmed that the project economics look
strong, according to Thursday's statement.

Calumets appointed third-party owners engineer also
finished a thorough review of the technology, as well as
Ventechs GTL design and other intended technology
components. Calumet said it concluded that the
technology is fantastic.

"The project with Calumet will be the
only commercial GTL plant in North America to move in to front
end engineering, other than Sasols project in Louisiana," said Roy
Lipski, CEO of Oxford Catalysts Group, which describes itself
as an innovator for the modular GTL technology.

"If it continues on its current schedule, it will be the first
GTL plant to be operational in North America, and the only
commercial smaller-scale GTL anywhere in the world," he
added.

Calumet now plans to progress with the more detailed
engineering and market analysis for the plant. At the
conclusion of this study, which is expected to last
approximately six months, Calumet says it will be in a
position to decide on proceeding with fabrication.

Production is currently expected to begin in the second half of
2014.

(Editor's note: Haldor Topsoes ATR
is an established technology for reforming natural gas into
synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. In the GTL plant,
this synthesis gas will be routed through the Velocys FT
process for conversion into long chain hydrocarbons.

Velocys is a leading developer of microchannel process technology for synthetic fuels
production.

The entire plant is planned to be constructed as
truckable modules at Ventech's fabrication facility in
Pasadena, Texas, and then transported to Calumet's site in
Karns City for rapid installation and interconnection with the
existing refining facility.)

Have your say

All comments are subject to editorial review.
All fields are compulsory.

Interesting article. I would be interested to know the projected capital cost for the plant in terms of $/bpd. This appears to be a small modular plant vs. the mega-plants at 100,000 bpd capacity and it would be interesting to see how costs compare on a $/bpd basis.